Fading Blood Ties
by jjake09
Summary: After a new big bad blows into town things for the scoobies spiral out of control, especially for Dawn who mysterously keeps getting hurt when she hasnt engaged in any fights.
1. Chapter 1

hey guys new story... I have the first four chapter already written so please R&R and ill keep posting

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the greatness that is Buffy... Joss the God does :(

It was another beautiful sunny day in Sunnydale, CA. Which was just irony in itself. The Summer's house was bustling with the regular morning rituals. Teeth and hairbrushing, breakfest, and occasionally there was a nice big debris cleanup from the night before.

Dawn stood staring at her body in the mirror. Over night a giant ugly purplish bruise had appeared on her ribs.

"How did this get here?" she asked herself trying to recall if she had taken a swan dive off her bed in the middle of the night. She picked her brain for five minutes but found nothing.

"Dawnie come on you're to be late for school." Buffy yelled from the other side of Dawn's door.

"Maybe I can just be fashionably late." Dawn put her shirt on and proceeded to forget the ugly skin blotch.

"You can't be fashionably late for something so unfashionable." Buffy left Dawn's door and began heading downstairs to wait for Xander.

Buffy stood at the foot of the stairs waiting for Xander when Dawn came hopping down the stairs. Buffy turned and surveyed what Dawn was wearing.

"You're wearing that?" Buffy made a disapproving face.

"Yeah it's got that whole Avril Lavigne beats up Britney and stole her accessories look." Dawn smiled and stuck a pose.

"You look like you were dressed by blind Italian monks that are stuck in a rerun of I Love Lucy." Buffy looked to Dawn with a matter of fact expression on her face.

"Reject." Dawn looked out the window just to see Xander's car pull up infront of the house.

"Xander's here let's go. Oh don't forget your denture cream we don't need your teeth falling out at lunch again." Dawn opened the door. Buffy nudged Dawn in the ribs trying to push her out the door.

"Ow!" Dawn winced at the pain.

"You need to watch yourself and your slayer strength can seriously hurt someone." Dawn faked a smirk to cover the pain and walked out the door.

"Children." Buffy rolled her eyes and followed Dawn out the door.

* * *

After arriving at the newly built Sunnydale High, Dawn went her seperate way as Xander and Buffy began heading towards the office.

"Did Dawn get hurt last night?" Buffy just asked out of the blue.

"No not that I can remember. But even if so she'll be fine. The Dawnster is one tough cookie." Xander looked to Buffy and noticed another thought about to surface.

"When I went to nudge her she said 'ow' and said I was being to rough. I'm never too rough. Am I rough? Do I underestimate the roughness that is me?" Buffy looked worried, could she have hurt Dawn. If she did she wanted to run through the school screaming for Dawn and when she found her she would appoligize until she was weak with tears.

"Buff you're not too rough. Maybe in all the chaos last night she got knocked over or something. Emphasis on the 'or something'."

"You don't think she's hurting herself do you? Last year she totally went klepto all over town. Her kleptoness had klepto. Maybe she's going all emo on us." Buffy began to look even more worried. She was working this whole situation and flipping it upside down.

"You're overthinking this Buff. If there was something wrong she'd tell us."

"You're right. I'm totally making mountains where they don't fit in." Buffy stopped as they reached the office and waved to Xander as she entered the office to begin her counseling of the students.

Buffy walked through the door and ran into Principal Wood.

"Buffy we really need to quit meeting like this." He smiled and stepped aside so she could pass.

"Robin you really know how to make a girl blush." She smiled and began heading to her desk.

"Ugh, work. It should be outlawed." She began shuffling through the pages trying to figure out why they were on her desk. The corner of a paper nipped her finger. Slowly blood began dripping from the papercut.

* * *

"Ow." Dawn stuck her finger in her mouth. After a moment she puller her finger out of her mouth and examined it. She came to the conclusion that it was a papercut. She looked down at her desk, it was completely clear, no paper.

"What the hell?" Dawn sat staring at her finger, scared to death.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay chapter two is up... I didn't get barely any reviews for the first chapter. Honestly I dont care if its good or bad I want reviews. I'm great at accepting critical criticism. I hope you like this chapter, and it's short also but dont worry they will get longer soon. Please read and review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the buffyverse, the greatness of Joss does :'-(

Dawn walked into the nurse's office. The nurse greeted her with a smile.

"How can I help you?"

"Band-Aid. My finger was cut, the paper variety." Dawn looked around the office. She noticed some weird things that you wouldn't normally find in a public school nurse's office. Like those paddel things that you use to shock someone back to life. Well this is Sunnydale, nothing is normal.

"Here you go sweetie." The nurse handed her a band-aid.

"Thanks." Dawn took the band-aid, then left the office. As she exited she ran into a guy.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I'm like a walking time bomb, I'm a total clu-" she looked up and turned bright red as she saw how delicious he was.

"No you're cool." He smirked and stepped to the side so she could pass.

"I'm TJ."

"TJ!" she repeated his name in a high-pitched dreamy way.

"Oh sorry, I'm Dawn. Sophmore been living her for seven years, and oh my god I love your jacket. It's got the whole Sid Vicious, 70ish vibe going. And I'm totally blabbering." She blushed and turned to look around trying to avoid the embarassment.

"Nah, it's cool. You're rather funny. Well I need to get to class. See ya around." He turned and headed down the hall.

"He's so dreamy." Dawn began heading to the office to see Buffy.

After arriving in the office she headed towards Buffy's cubicle.

"Buffy, hey. How do you feel about doing some snooping." Dawn sat down across from her sister.

"Ooh snooping. Who sha'll we snoop?" Buffy turned towards the computer ready to type.

"TJ, don't know his last name. Total hottie. Just want to make sure he's not the spawn of Satan or some other creepy crawly." Buffy began typing, she looked surprised.

"Only one TJ at the school. Hmm, he's sixteen, lived in Sunnydale his whole life. But this doesn't tell us if he's Lex Luther or anything. There isn't exactly a 'Am I Evil' category." She looked to Dawn with a smirk. The smirk then turned sour.

"Sorry Dawnie I wish I could help more. My advice, be careful. You never know."

"God! It's your fault. You totally cursed us when you went all Cloud 9 with Angel. Then 'HELLO' covert opps with Riley. Then goodbye Jenna Jameson, Buffy's in town with Spike. You've cursed the Summer's line." Dawn slumped in her chair.

"Oh yeah blame me. Last time I checked you were sucking face with a vamp on Halloween last year. I totally didn't make you do that. It was your choice completely." Buffy looked to Dawn waiting for a response but gone none.

"Ok, back to class."

* * *

"Hey Will, we're home." Buffy yelled as they entered the house.

"Home sweet home. Or more like hell sweet hell." Dawn smiled and headed upstairs to start on homework. Willow came around the corner from the dinning room.

"Hey Buff how was work?" She continued into the living room to continue working on laundry.

"You know, workish. Troubling kids with their troubles. Who knew high school kids had so many problems?" Buffy sat down on the couch.

"Who knew?" Willow shrugged, and continued to fold the clothes.

Buffy looked out the window and noticed that the sun was starting to go down.

"The sun is setting. I should really head out to patrol."

"Come on wait a little bit. Let's have pre-patrol dinner. I hungry slayer is a clumsy slayer." Willow smiled trying to convince Buffy to stay.

"Evil doesn't seem to want me to eat dinner. They like the occasional upperhand." She grabbed her jacket, and when to leave.

"Buffy, please. We can order pizza!" Willow jumped in front of her.

"Fine fine but if the apocalypse happens tonight, I blame you." Buffy put her jacket down and went to get the phone to order pizza. Just as Buffy picked up the phone the door went flying off the hinges. Dawn came running down the stairs to see what happened.

"What the-"

The demon hit Willow and she went flying across the room and landed in a chair.

"Slayer." the demon rumbled and began heading towards Buffy.

"Sincee when did you guys make house calls? Did you happen to bring the pizza?" the demon swung at her and she ducked under his punch. After coming up she kicked him in the stomache, that is if he had one.

"Just thought I'd ask." She went to punch him, he grabbed her arm and punched her in the face. She stumbled backward, after a moment she regained her balance. The demon grabbed the lamp off the table.

"Leave her alone!" Dawn picked up a piece of wood off the ground and headed towards the demon. He looked back when he heard her scream. He pushed her into the wall.

"My back!" she screamed in agony. The demon threw the lamp at Buffy. She ducked and grabbed a sword out of the trunk.

"That's mom's good lamp." Buffy swung the sword and decapitated the demon. The body vanished as if he was never there. Buffy went to help Dawn up.

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just tossed around a little bit." Buffy grabbed Dawn's hand and pulled her up. Buffy and Willow stood staring at Dawn as a huge purple bruise appeared on her face.

"Did the demon-guy hit you in the face?" Willow looked a little closer at the bruise. She thought that it was appearing really really fast. Abnormally fast actually.

"No he didn't."


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, so this is my next chapter. Still not too long but it's longer. Sorry for how short it is. I hope you like R&R

Disclaimer : I own absolutely nothing of the buffyverse but in my world I own it all!

Dawn stood leaning against the stairs holding a bag of ice to the bruise on her face.

"Feeling any better?" Buffy looked at the bruise on her face.

"Ugh.." Buffy tried to keep a straight face so she wouldn't worry Dawn, but it didnt work.

"I know, I know. I look like a big ugly green and purple dinosaur. I don't care what anyone says, purple and green so don't go together." Dawn slumped down onto the stairs, her face turned down into a frown.

"Aw come on Dawnie, it's not that bad." Buffy sat down next to her.

"Not that bad! Not that bad! Have you seen my face, well of course you have. Everyone on the west coast has seen my face, I've got a bruise bigger than Montana." She put her face in her hands but jerked back when she touched the bruise.

"Hey guys." Willow came walking down the stairs and sat right above Dawn and Buffy.

"I found the symbol that was on the demon's forehead. The symbol stands for a group of ancient and very powerful demons. The group was put here to kill the strongest good forces. But that's not the biggest problem. They have to be controlled, and only someone with tons of power can summon them." Buffy and Dawn both turned and looked at Willow and just stared.

"It wasn't me! Hello - still a redhead and do you see any gross veins, NO!" she looked down at her feet. She still hadn't gotten over last spring's occurences. It troubled her everyday and it seemed no one would ever let her forget it. How could they, she killed a human being. Then proceeded to try and destroy the world. It's not something you just move passed.

"It wasn't a face of accusation, it was a face of fear. I'm a strong good person. I'm THE strong good person and now there's a hit on me by some old demon peeps so I'm just a tad bit scared." Buffy say staring at Willow, she wanted to appoligize but she didn't want to rehash the past. It was just that, the past. Then she had an epiphany.

"Faith? What about Faith? We have to check on her. She may be crazy and homocidal but she has no idea. And last time I checked she was making with the redemption."

"Oh yeah I forgot about that. I called the prison and there was a huge massacre by a huge 'ugly' person which I would say was the demon. It went straight for Faith, she kicked his ugly ass and ran. She hasn't been seen since." Willow stood up and started to head upstairs.

"I'll go grab some stuff so we can do a locater spell to find her." Willow began to head upstairs to grab her supplies.

"I'm sorry I just can't accept the gravity of the situation. I never cared for the skanky hoe anyway. Im more worried about my face. I wasn't hit in the face and now I look like Linda Blair, minus the pea soup. That's what I'm worried about. " Buffy just looked at Dawn blankly, like Dawn had said something so stupid. She got up and headed towards the living room. Dawn followed after her.

"I don't know, maybe. Willow did say someone had to control the demons. Maybe that someone, or something, is doing it." Buffy put her arm around Dawn to try and comfort her.

Willow came downstairs with supplies in hand. She placed everything on the table and began arranging it all. After a few minutes and all the supplies were set up Willow put a map of California in the middle of the table.

"Ok let's hope this works." Willow began speaking latin as she worked the mojo. After a few moments had passed a light appeared on the map it was hard to see where it was located.

"You bitch!" Willow screamed and her head shot back as if she had been hit in the face. The force continued pushing until the chair flipped back and she lost her concentration. Dawn and Buffy shot up off the couch to help Willow.

They both helped Willow stand up, then the map burst into flames. Buffy grabbed the cover off the couch and put the fire out.

"What the fuck!" Dawn said in surprise.

"Dawn, language." Buffy moved towards Willow and helped her sit down.

"I'm fine. Whoever this is doesn't want us to know where Faith is, and they're powerful. For the most part I was just caught off guard."

"Great now how are we going to find her." Buffy sat down, now she was pissed. They had come into her home and attacked her. They used magick to attack Willow, and succeeded, she looked at Willow who was smiling, Buffy looked confused.

"The spell worked long enough to let me know where in general she is. She's in Sunnydale." Willow began cleaning up the supplies and took them upstairs, and Dawn cleaned up the ashes from the burned map.

"Well now I have to patrol, I have to find Faith. Dawn call Anya see if she can get any help from her demon contacts to find who summoned the demon." Dawn nodded and headed to the kitchen to throw away the ashes and call Anya. Just as Buffy was about to walk out the door Willow came down the stairs.

"I'm going to find her. Even if I do hate her she's in trouble and we could use the extra punch. No matter how sloppy that punch may be. Will you two be okay? I'm worried they'll come after you next."

"We'll be fine, I think me and Dawnie can handle one little demon." Willow smiled which was slightly forced. She was worried. The demons were sent to take out strong good forces. She was definitely strong, everyone saw that last spring. Good, she was definitely that too.

"It's not the demon I'm worried about Willow. Whatever attacked you knocked you off your feet, metaphorically of course because you were sitting. The only person whose ever taken the upperhand to you like that was Glory." Willow understood Buffy's point, but Glory was a god, and dead. Now Willow was really worried.

"Hurry back!" Willow said quickly which showed her fear.

"I will as soon as I find the trampy wannabe slayer." Buffy left the house in search of Faith.

* * *

After walking around downtown Sunndydale for about thirty mintues she decided to hit the cemetaries. Faith always felt comfortable there. One she was a slayer, two she loved being evil. And evil always went to cemetaries no matter how cliche it was. Buffy figured Faith was probably sitting in a crypt surrounded by vampires with her feet propped up and smoking cigarette. They all talked about their glory days while listening to 'Take a Walk on the Wild Side'. Buffy couldn't help but to smile at the thought.

Buffy walked around the cemetary and found that it was oddly quiet tonight. She hadn't run into a demon or vampire all night. Something must have them spooked, which gave her the wiggins. If demons and vampires ran scared from Sunnydale maybe she should do the same. Nah, she wasn't one to run from a fight. Just as she thought that, one of the demons jumped out from behind a crypt.

"Ew you're even uglier than the last one. Why are demons always so ugly? Why can't there be a Brad Pitt demon?" the demon threw a punch but missed due to the fact that Buffy ducked. The two went back and forth but neither one was able to land a punch.

"Okay this is getting repetitive. Punch, kick, duck. Maybe we should like take turns or something. I'll go first." Buffy punched the demon in the face sending him flying backwards into a tombstone.

"You're turn, but seeing how you got hurt so badly how about we skip yours and go straight back to me." Buffy went to go kick him but he moved and instead she kicked the headstone breaking it in half.

"Hey, you lost you're turn. Now Jane Doe needs a new headstone." She cocked her head sideways to see what the name on the headstone was. The name read Tara McClay.

"Oh no, Tara." Buffy forgot all about the demon. She just thought about how she was going to tell Willow. She got lost in her thought and was caught off guard when the demon kicked her. She flew backwards into another headstone. The demon moved quickly and stood over top of her. He punched her in the face then used the same hand to hold her down. He held out the other and a sword appeared.

"That's new." Buffy moaned and squirmed but couldn't break free. The demon raised the sword and got ready to strike, but instead a knife was shoved through his throat. The knife sat there for a second then was pulled really hard to the left severing half of his neck from his body. Buffy closed her eyes as the body fell and she heard a voice.

"Hey B, thought you could use some help."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy.**

**A/N: Okay guys so here's the next chapter, sorry it took so long to get it up. Just been super busy. I already had it written just haven't had the time to type it and upload it. I didn't put that this was OOC because I think I do a pretty good job at keeping them in character. The Faith and Buffy convo towards this end was the most fun thing I've ever written. Please Review... I hope you guys like it.**

Anya sat staring at Dawn's face.

"Wow that thing is huge!" Anya just continued to stare unblinking.

"Thanks for the encouragement." Dawn sighed and got up from the couch to pace the room.

"Anytime! So anyway what do you want?"

Willow stood up and handed Anya a piece of paper that had the symbol on it.

"I've seen this before, nasty group of demons. You don't want to mess with them. Thank god they're existinct you would be in mass amounts of trouble." Anya smiled and handed the paper back to Willow.

"They attacked us earlier." Willow said bluntly, she was getting aggravated with Anya.

"Oh... well good luck with that." Anya got up and began heading towards the door.

"So you're just going to leave? You're not going to help?"

"I'm busy and why would I help you? Just made sure I'm not here when they attack again. Because they will attack again. Gotta go." Anya moved even faster for the door.

"Coward!" Willow yelled at Anya's back. Anya opened the door to see Xander standing in the doorway.

"Anya." Xander said as a smile formed on his face.

"Xander." Anya rolled her eyes and stood waiting for Xander to move.

"What's going on?" Xander stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

"A demon attacked earlier, pretty scary one too. I called Anya to see if she's heard anything through the demon grapevine." Willow said from behind Anya.

"Ok, I've heard something, but not much. All I know is there's some all powerful someone in town and it's got the lower demons spooked. They're running and hiding. That's all I know now let me go before I summon a demon to kill you all." Anya stood tapping her foot, she was getting very impatient.

"You couldn't do that even if you wanted to." Willow threw back at her.

"I'll find someone to wish for your demise. I'm leaving n-" Dawn then cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Xander and Willow both rushed towards her.

"Are you okay sweetie?" Willow took her hand and helped her up.

"My back!" Dawn cried. Willow lifted up Dawn's shirt to reveal a bruise the expanded the length of her back.

"Oh my god!" Willow looked to Xander, they were both beyond confused.

"Cry baby." Anya rolled her eyes and opened the door to leave. A demon stood on the other side of the door.

"They're in there." Anya pointed to the livingroom. The demon punched Anya. She went flying backwards and through one of the closed livingroom doors.

"What the hell do I look like? One of the good guys." Her face transformed into the face of the very ugly vegence demon that she was.

"Two in one night!" Willow stood up ready for battle. The demon began heading towards Willow. He held out one of his hands and a sword appeared. He lifted the sword and swung.

"Protect!" Willow screamed and a barrier appeared between the demon and them.

"I knew you'd do that." a voice echoed throughout the room.

Willow looked around the room but saw nothing

"Not this time." Willow eyes grew darker until they were completely black. Willow began shaking but stood strong. The room slowly grew darker. Willow began muttering in latin and the shaking barrier grew stronger.

Dawn looked to Xander and then to Anya who was slowly making her way to her feet.

"We have to do something Willow can't hold both of them off forever." Dawn scrambled to her feet. She looked around to try and find a weapon of sorts then she saw Anya and got an idea, but she wasn't sure if it was going to work.

I wish the demon was gone!" Dawn screamed at the top of her lungs. Anya turned towards Dawn and granted the wish.

"Done." She clapped her hands and the demon vanished into thin air. They all stood in silence for a minute then Willow fell to her knees exhausted from the fight.

They all rushed to her aid.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." she sat down and crossed her legs and just tried to relax for a minute. She sat in the silence before a thought crossed her mind.

"How many? How many of these demons are there?" she looked to Anya who was looking around the room to avoid answering the question. Finally she looked to Willow and saw how serious she was, she sighed.

"Thousands. I don't know an exact number, but tons. This group of demons is what gave one of those bible guys the idea for Legion. Thousands of demons crontroled by one even stronger being of evil." Willow's eyes widened in shock. Xander's face grew more fearful and Dawn was too preoccupied with her back to be scared.

"Thousands." Willow whispered.

* * *

Faith out a hand to help Buffy.

"I can help myself." Buffy stood up straight and stretched a little bit to help rid her back from the pain.

"So I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say you're alive. You okay?" Buffy looked to Faith then began walking. Faith followed closely behind her.

"Five-by-five. I didn't really know why a giany ugly demon broke into the prison to kill me. Then I get to Sunnydale and every whimpy demon is running for the hills. Well this is California so runningfor the valley."

"Yeah some new big bad is in town and it has it out for us. Nothing new there." Buffy shrugged and continued walking on.

"Geez B, can't you stay out of trouble." Faith nudged Buffy in the shoulder.

"Me? Last time I checked you went all Prison Break. And you have the nerve to walk up here and say I'm the trouble slut." Buffy stopped, surprising Faith who had kept walking. Buffy turned to Faith and said calmly,

"Duck."

"Where? There's no water around-" Buffy cut her off.

"No, get down you idiot." Faith ducked down and Buffy flipped over top of her and staked the oncoming vamp.

"Just for the record so were clear, I'm going back to prison to do my time after this whole mess is figured out."

"Like I'm going to believe that. Last time I saw you, you were going all Alred Hithchcock's Physcho on Wesly. I can't trust you to just walk back into prison all willy nilly."

"Geez b thanks for the blast from the past. I've changed, I've found god so to speak seeings how I'm not religious. I turned myself in the first time, now I'll do it again. Besides I'm good now. I saved your life." Faith began walking kind of hoping she could just leave Buffy behind.

"Saved my life? I was fine, I totally had the upperhand. My next move was coming."

"What was your next move? Getting killed, because if so then you definitely had it down pact." Faith and Buffy continued walking with the intent of not stopping until they got home.

"Oh my god, quit your bickering you're giving me a headache." They both turned around to see Anya standing there.

"Anya! Is everything okay?" Buffy began to worry. What other reason would Anya be here.

"No. Another demon attacked."

"Is everybody okay? Anyone get hurt?" Buffy looked to Faith who also was slightly worried.

"That's not the worst part... Dawn's paralyzed."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ok so the next chapter is finally here. Sorry it took so long, I didn't have acces to a computer. I finished writing  
this a couple weeks again, and I have a little of the next chapter written. So R&R please :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of Buffy, or the characters. Joss Whedon does.**

"I'm sick of hospitals, the kinda give the wiggins." Faith stood posted up against the wall outside of Dawn's room.

"No one cares. Can't you stop being selfish for once in your god forsaken life." Buffy shoved Faith up against the wall. She looked at Faith and she just wanted to wipe that self righteous look off of her face. It wasn't possible because that's just how Faith always looked. Buffy blinked and shook the thoughts right out of her mind, but why was she thinking like this? Faith hadn't done anything to her in recent years. She was just taking her anger out on Faith, she was the easy target. Buffy already lost her mother, she couldn't lose Dawn too. That's what it all boiled down to, her fear of losing her little sister.

"Geez B, take a pill." Faith stared at Buffy but didn't react, she was a changed woman.

"Sorry." Buffy let go of Faith. She turned towards Dawn's room and stared on as the doctors worked.

"I was the one who found my mother's body." Buffy just made the statement out of the blue. Faith stood frozen, she didn't know how to respond and she didn't want to say the wrong thing.

"B, I'm-"

"It's just I don't want to lose Dawn too. I've lost too many people already. Mom, Dad, and Tara I can't let anything happen to Dawn." Buffy turned towards Faith, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Buffy you can't protect her from everything. You're the slayer, not god." Faith was surprised by her own statement, it was so insightful.

"Buffy." Willow, Xander, Anya came walking down the hall. Willow handed Buffy a cup of coffee.

"How's she doing?" Willow looked into the room as if she would be able to understand what they were doing.

"I don't know, they haven't told us anything yet." Buffy sat down on the bench and began starring at the wall, as if waiting for it to open up and give her answers.

The others stood around, not even daring to say anything. Just in case it was the wrong thing to say. Willow sat down next to Buffy and put her arm around her.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Buffy looked up to Willow, she had a confused look on her face.

"I mean look where she came from, you. You're the strongest person I've ever met. Your blood is running through her veins, which means she'll be just fine. A hell god couldn't stop her, this definitely won't." Buffy tried to smile but she just couldn't make her face move into the proper position.

Just as everyone got lost in their thoughts again, the doctor exited the room. Buffy and Willow stood up and waited for him to talk.

"I'm sorry, but she's paralyzed. But we couldn't determine the cause. She looks as if she's suffered back trauma, but at the same time the skins not torn and it doesn't look as if she was even hit on the back. She's awake, you can see her now, one at a time please." They all stood like statues not knowing what to do or say. All of their eyes fell on Buffy.

Buffy slowly started moving towards the room. As she entered Dawn's eyes slowly found her. Dawn tried to smile, but it just hurt too much.

"So how are you feeling?" Buffy sat down in a chair next to the bed.

"My head feels like I've been hit by a bus, my legs, well they don't feel like anything." Dawn forced the words out, it hurt so much just to talk.

Buffy forced a smile, but it didn't help cover the pain. Tears were freely flowing down her face. Dawn noticed the tears, but she couldn't tell Buffy not to worry. She herself was worried so it would make her a hypocrite.

They sat in silence for a minute, neither knew what to say. It didn't matter what was said, it would result in a cryfest.

"Excuse me." Buffy turned around as the nurse entered the room.

"If you could give us a moment please?" The nurse smiled blankly at Buffy. Buffy smiled and nodded and exited the room.

"How's Dawnie?" Willow asked as if Buffy drew conclusions that the doctor hadn't.

"I don't really know. In pain, well partially in pain. She didn't say much."

Willow looked to Buffy hoping she would come up with some amazing plan to fix it, but to her disappointment one didn't come.

"I don't know what to do. I don't know where to begin. I know I need to stay strong for Dawn, but how? The only thing I'm good at is fighting evil. But I have nothing to punch, no heart to shove a stake through. There isn't a face to rip apart. So what do I do?" Buffy collapsed onto the bench as she fell apart.

* * *

Willow stood outside with Faith as she smoked. She wasn't a fan of the bad habit but she needed the fresh air.

"So red, you're usually the brains behind the operation, got any idea where to start?" Faith took a hit off of the cigarette and waited for a response.

"No idea. All we know is some really powerful being is pulling all the strings, but no idea who. We have those demon things but no face behind the mask." Willow began to pout. She had never been so confused in her life; rocket science was easier than this.

"So in other words we're fucked." Faith said bluntly.

"Yea pretty much. Look Faith, I know this whole saving the world stuff isn't your style, but we need you now more than ever. Buffy's gonna be out of commission for a while." Willow stared at her feet; they're easier to look at than Faith.

"Just give me an ass, and I'll be glad to kick it." Faith threw her cigarette into the parking lot. Willow looked at her blankly, then turned and looked at the ashtray right next to them.

"Geez, you good guys are so uptight." Faith rolled her eyes and headed back into the hospital. Willow stared up at the stars contemplating their next move. She had all this power inside of her, but every time she used it she went all grr. This kind of put her on edge. How was she supposed to help out when she couldn't do a simple locater spell without getting dark roots? After Willow decided she was done beating herself up, she turned and headed back inside to check on Dawn.

* * *

After about thirty minutes and tons of pain meds she was finally feeling a little bit better.

"Where's the puns? You're punless. Call the Guinness Book of Records the slayer has run out of puns." Dawn stared at Buffy wanting her to lighten up. She was only paralyzed, no biggie right?

"Dawnie you're in the hospital, and your legs aren't a kickin'. Sorry if it has me a little worried."

"Geez Buff. Okay worst has happened to me. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but it happened. It's not like my life is over. I just can't walk, or reach those pesky high places, or run a marathon, or anything I wouldn't have done to begin with." Right after Dawn finished her mini-speech there was a knock at the door. They both turned to look and saw TJ at the door. Buffy motioned for him to come in.

"I'll just leave you two alone, I need to talk to the guys anyways." Buffy kissed Dawn on her forehead and exited the room.

"How is she?" Willow asked the instant she saw Buffy.

"Doin' better, she's not exactly ready to jump through hoops, but she's feeling better. She's punning away in there." Buffy sat on the bench across from the room. She placed her face in her hands and tried not to cry again. After calming down she lifted her head.

"Any idea what our next move is?"

"Not a clue. We need to figure out who is doing all of this. Now we have to figure out why Dawn is paralyzed. The two have to be connected." Willow sat down next to Buffy while Faith paced. She wasn't a fan of just sitting around talking.

"Do you really think it's connected?" Buffy's face twisted in confusion as she tried to make sense of it all.

"It's too much of a coincidence not to be. First the demons, then the big bad, and now Dawnie's magically paralyzed. It's the only explanation." Willow hadn't put it all together, but it was too odd for it all not to be connected.

"That would make sense." Buffy stood up, ready for action, but what action?

"I would say we could hit the books, but we have no clue what we're dealing with. Usually there's a face to put it all together, but we might as well be fighting a ghost." Willow hated not knowing what was going on. She prided herself in her smarts, but it did no good in a situation such as this.

"How are you feeling?" TJ sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"Well I can't feel half of me, so… I don't know." Dawn wasn't really sure how to answer that question. Especially since she had no clue as to why her legs were completely numb.

"How'd you hear that I was in here?"

"Well I know your friend Janice, and I saw her at the Double Meat Palace and she mentioned that you were in here." TJ made a half smile. Dawn wanted to just melt when he smiled.

"That conniving twit." Dawn mumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking out loud." Dawn blushed; she couldn't believe he had heard that.

"Don't be mad at her, I'm glad she told me." He smiled again, and Dawn melted all over again. Before Dawn could reply there was a knock at the door.

"Dawnie we have to leave. Halfrek just telepor- telephoned Anya. Things just got worse." Willow leaned down to give Dawn a kiss on the forehead.

"How much worse?" Dawn was jumping to all the wrong conclusions.

"Her… boss was kidnapped and all of their fellow veng… colleagues are being forced to work for the… um… dictator." Willow stood there seeing if that makes sense.

"Dictator?" Dawn looked at Willow with a confused look.

"You know what I mean." Willow turned and went to go leave. She smiled at Dawn.

"Get better sweetie."

* * *

**A/N: Ok there you go, I hope you enjoyed it. I wanted to make sure there was no fighting in this chapter I felt like I was using that as a crutch to escape dialogue. Looks like Dawn's love life is blooming, yay! I know how the story is going to end and I know how like the last five chapters play out, but getting there is a bitch. Review please!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: So here you go chapter six. I've been having a really hard time writing this story.  
It's just from lack of inspiration, and I have no clue if it's any good. People alert but never review.  
So people please review I like the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy...**

"Get the hell off of me. I don't take orders from anyone." Anya threw a guy off of her.

"You don't seem to understand Aud. You don't have a choice. You can either do as I say or drop dead right here." The voice echoed through the room, but Anya could tell it wasn't someone in the room.

"One, the name is Anya. Two, you don't have that much power. You must not know what a vengeance demon is."

"Aud, Anyanka, or Anya it doesn't really matter, you're still going to die. I'm already in progress at getting the Key out of my way. Then the witch, then the slayers. You've made your decision. Watch your back Anyanka."

"The Key, what do you mean getting rid of the Key?" Anya blinked and she was standing in the middle of the rubble that was once the Magic Box.

"Dammit."

* * *

"Thanks Althenea, any information at this point helps." Willow hung up the phone.

"Alth- what?" Faith looked up from making a stake.

"She's a powerful seer of a coven in Devon. She didn't have much information just that the demons were only a threat. Something to distract us while she worked some other mojo." Willow picked a book up off the table and sat on the couch.

"Distract us from what?" Faith was trying to take all the information, but learning was never her strong suit.

"No idea, whoever this is masked themselves really well. Althenea's really powerful and can see through almost anything, which means whoever this is has some real power." Willow pouted.

"Great, someone more powerful than you, and last I heard you were pretty god like yourself. With the going all Carrie at the prom last spring." Faith looked to Willow and she saw that she hit a nerve with her.

"Red, I'm…" Willow cut her off.

"No, you're right. I have all this power and I have no idea what to do with it. No matter what I try this person is always one step ahead of me." Willow thumbed through the book not really wanting to admit how useless she felt.

"Anyways Giles got on a flight yesterday and should be here soon. Maybe he'll have some news. Any word on Dawn?"

"Buffy called about an hour ago, she's doing about the same. So in other words not so good." Faith put the stake down, if she sliced at it anymore it would just be a splinter.

"Ooh this may work." Willow jumped up and headed towards the stairs.

"Did I miss something?" Faith looked to Willow, she was very confused.

"An unmasking spell, I'll go grabs some supplies clear out a spot on the floor for me." Willow ran up stairs to grab some supplies.

"Sure, no problem." Faith stood up and pushed the chair closer to the wall. She picked up the coffee table and sat it next to the chair. She looked at the area she cleared out. Should be big enough, she thought. After a few short moments Willow came down the stairs.

"Ok let's do this maybe we can figure something out."

* * *

"So Giles is coming? That's good, you know with him being all brainy and what not." Dawn thumbed through the book that was on her lap. She may be paralyzed but she refused to be useless.

"Yeah he should be here sometime tomorrow, I think. I'm not exactly sure how the time zones and all that works." Buffy sat the book she was looking at aside and grabbed another one when a knock came at the door.

"Hi Dawn. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, like her legs just magically started working again or something.

"My torso feels great. My legs are feeling a little under the weather," Dawn laughed, "Get it under the weather, like an ice storm where you freeze and parts go numb." The doctor smiled, he didn't quite understand Dawn's sense of humor.

"That's good that you're feeling better. You're vitals are all good, you're blood pressure normal. We probably we be able to get you out of here as early as tomorrow morning." He smiled.

"So the sun does come out tomorrow." Dawn laughed; Buffy gave her a grim look.

"Geez Buff lighten up, I'm paralyzed not dead." Buffy rolled her eyes.

"So doc is there any chance that she'll be able to use her legs again?" No matter how many jokes Dawn cracked Buffy was still worried about her baby sister.

"Well we've never seen anything like this before, so we're kind of driving blind here. There is no telling what could happen. No let's check to see if there is any response in your legs." The doctor lifted up the covers to check to Dawn's legs, he froze at what he saw.

"What legs?" Dawn stared at the lack of her lower half. Her legs were completely gone, they no longer existed.

* * *

Anya stood looking around the Magic Box, she tried to teleport back but it didn't work.

"Damn evil demon person." She slowly made her way around the rubble and to the front door. She opened the door and noticed that it was day time. She covered her eyes as they adjusted to the light.

"Anya." A familiar voice came from in front of her. She sighed and lowered her hand.

"Xander, what to do want? Aren't you supposed to be working or something?"

"I'm on my lunch break I was walking by when I saw you." He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Oh you have breaks? That's stupid, go back to work. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now." She started walking down the street. She looked over and he was following her.

"Well I was a little worried, you just left so abruptly last night at the hospital."

"I didn't leave I was demon napped. That evil person summoned me and I had to go. I didn't have a choice." She continued walking until she reached the coffee shop.

"So you're working with the evil people now?" He didn't understand exactly how all the demon stuff worked.

"Yes Xander, I told them where you all lived and they're going to come while you're sleeping and smother you with a pillow. No I'm not. D'hoffryn is so he's making all his demons work for them. I refused to help so now I've been added to the magical hit list. Someone's going to try and kill me, happy?" She walked up to the counter and ordered her coffee.

"No I'm not happy, Anya I don't want you dead. How many times do I have to apologize?" He stepped in front of her. She rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the way.

"Don't even bring that up Xander. You left me at the altar, but once in your god forsaken life can you worry about the bigger picture. Whoever this is out to kill Dawn, Willow, Faith, Buffy and myself. Don't be so full of yourself to think you're my biggest problem." She walked out of the coffee shop and continued down the street. Xander still followed like a little lost puppy.

"Stop following me Xander!" She started walking even faster.

"Anya can we please just talk about this. You should tell Buffy what happened, maybe she can help." Anya stopped and turned towards Xander.

"Oh yea cause Buffy can solve everything. That was one of our problems; you always had to run to Buffy. Don't you get it Xander, Buffy probably can't stop this. No one can stop this." Xander stood frozen on the spot; he had instantly become a little scared. Anya seemed really worried about the new big bad.

"Anya, whatever this thing is we'll figure it out. We'll stop it like we always do." Xander took a step closer to Anya and raised his to place it on her shoulder. Anya shrugged off his hand.

"Are you really that dense? This isn't some stupid construction job; this is a hell of a lot bigger. We're dealing with mystical forces way beyond all of us. For once I think this apocalypse might just be that, an apocalypse. Why am I even still standing here talking to you?" Anya vanished into thin air as she teleported away. Xander stood frozen for a few moments before checking his watch and noticing that he had to be back to work.

* * *

The doctor stood frozen to the spot as he stared at the spot where Dawn's legs should be.

"Can you give us a minute alone please?" Buffy asked and snapped the doctor out of his trance.

"We should figure out how this happened, this isn't exactly n- n- natural." He stumbled across his last word.

"Welcome to Sunnydale, now leave us." Buffy demanded this time her voice more stern. The doctor exited the room and grabbed Dawn's charts on the way out. Dawn looked to Buffy and gave a half smile.

"At least we know now why I can't feel my legs." Dawn's voice didn't sound as confident as she wanted it to.

"Dawn stop it, this isn't the time for jokes. If you haven't noticed this problem just got a whole lot more serious." Buffy started pacing the room; she finally stopped at the opposite side of the room. She punched the wall out of anger and a giant hole appeared after she pulled her fist out.

"Buffy just call Willow maybe she can fix this." Dawn was a little scared to speak up, hell just was just scared in general.

"I'm not so sure she can. I'll call her though. After I make this call I've got something to do. Will you be okay for a little while?" Dawn nodded and Buffy left the room to go call Willow.

* * *

Faith sat on the couch and watched as all the candles slowly lifted into the air. After a few seconds they fell back to the floor.

"Well, don't get me wrong I love watching the remake of The Craft, but wasn't something else supposed to happen?" Faith shifted in her seat, this whole magic thing was kind of boring her.

"Yes, it didn't work." Willow slammed the book shut; this whole thing was starting to really piss her off. No matter what she did, none of it worked.

Willow stood up and began cleaning up the candles and the rest of the supplies. A crystal slipped out of her hand and began falling towards the floor.

"Oh sh…" The crystal hit the floor and shattered. A bright light flash and the room began to grow dark. Faith stepped up beside Willow.

"What's going on?" Faith looked to Willow confused. Willow shrugged, and the room became pitch black dark. A figure slowly began to appear in front of them. As the seconds rolled by the figure became more and more clear. An elderly lady with long white hair, and a face covered with wrinkles stood in front of them. She didn't seem to notice Willow and Faith standing in front of her.

"Aud, Anyanka, or Anya it doesn't really matter, you're still going to die. I'm already in progress at getting the Key out of my way. Then the witch, then the slayers. You've made your decision. Watch your back Anyanka." The old women's voice echoed throughout the room. Willow recognized this to be the haunting voice she had heard several times. Willow stared for a few minutes hoping the woman would say something that could potentially help them. She said nothing else, and then the phone rang. The room slowly came back into view and Willow made her way to the phone.

"Hello." She said silent for a few seconds. "Wow Buffy slow down." After another few minutes Willow spoke again.

"Shit. Yeah I'll be there as soon as I can." Willow hung up the phone and looked towards Faith.

"I have to go to the hospital; Buffy needs you to meet her at that demon bar not too far from the Bronze."

**AN: Okay I hope you all liked it. Please review. I already had chapter 7 written but I trashed it because I hated it, so I have to redo it. Also if I don't get any reviews for this chapter, I'm seriously tempted to not even post the next one. So it's all up to you all.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Ok after a very long wait here is chapter seven. This chapter is more or less to let you know that I'm still working on it. This chapter is somewhat of a filler. It helped me get back on the Buffy band wagon. Hope you enjoy. Reviews are great! I will try to reply to them even though I haven't been able to in the past.**

"Tell me everything you know!" Buffy slammed the demon's head into the bar.

"I don't know anything! I swear!" The demon pleaded as Buffy slammed his head into the bar a second time.

"Slayer you better take your investigation elsewhere; leave it out of my bar." The demon owner pulled Buffy off of the demon she was pounding. Buffy turned around grabbed the demon by his shirt and threw him into the wall behind the bar.

"I will rip this town apart until I find out who is doing this, starting with you all." Buffy walked out the door and slammed it so hard it broke in half.

Faith nudged the broken door out of the way.

"B, you need to chill it down. This isn't like you." Buffy stopped in front of Faith. She turned on her heel to face Faith.

"It isn't like me? You don't even know me Faith. Now fall in line or get the hell out of my way." Buffy turned to walk away.

"I'm not one of your lackeys; I don't take orders from you. Or have you forgotten that too every since you went off the deep end." Buffy turned and punched Faith right in the jaw. Faith fell to her knees.

"Lackeys, they're my friends. But wait, that's something you wouldn't understand. Everybody that tries to help you, you try to kill them. Just ask Wesley." Faith stood up and stood face to face with Buffy.

"You gonna hit? A good punch seems to be the only thing you seem to understand." Buffy just stood staring at Faith. Faith refused to react; she knew Buffy was just upset.

"We have work to do B. You can sit here and jump my ass all you want, but I'm going to go help Dawn." Buffy punched Faith again.

"She's my sister, whom you tried to kill. Don't try and play the martyr." Buffy turned and began walking down the alley towards the street.

* * *

Willow stood next to Dawn. She looked around and made sure all the supplies were set up.

"Will this work?" Dawn questioned as she lit a candle.

"Not sure. Magic doesn't always work the way you want it to. I'm really hoping that it will." Willow walked around to the front of the bed. She closed her eyes and began chanting. She opened her eyes after a few minutes to see that Dawn will still leg less.

"Damnit gods above, do as I say and give her, her legs back!" The room shook for a split second but Dawn's legs were still gone.

"Um Will, I don't think it worked." Dawn said stating the obvious.

"Shit, I know that!" Willow screamed. Dawn looked little upset by the outburst.

"Dawnie I'm sorry." Willow saw down in the chair next to the bed.

"It just feels like the only time I did anything without screwing up was when I was evil."

"That's not true. You've done a lot of things right. You restored Angel's soul, you switched Buffy and Faith back during the body switch, and you undid Glory's whole mind thing on Tara. You've done a lot of things right. You probably can't fix me because it's magic that did it. So you would have to know the exact spell to undo it. Don't be so hard on yourself, at least you have legs." Even thought Dawn was missing half her body, she was oddly optimistic.

"Thanks Dawnie. I'm sure I can probably figure it out eventually.

"See that's the spirit!" Dawn clapped her hands to emphasize her point. Dawn reached over and grabbed a book.

"A History of Magic, maybe something might be in here." Dawn shrugged as she began looking through the book.

"Ugh she is an ugly old hag. Yuck." She shifted the book towards Willow to show her the picture. Willow froze at the sight of the picture.

"I saw her. When I did an unmasking spell earlier today, she's the one behind it all." Willow took the book from Dawn and began reading.

"Who is she? Obviously she's not one of Charlie's Angels cause she is hideous. The Wicked Witch of the West maybe?" Dawn looked to Willow who was still reading.

"According to this, she is The Witch. The first human to be give magical abilities. She's as old as this plane of existence. She coexisted with the original demons. It also says that there are some rumors that she is a child of the gods, which would explain her immortality." Willow's face turned into a frown after reading the passage.

"So can she be killed?" Dawn thought it was a reasonable question to the impending trouble. Willow's face fell even more.

"It also says that no living being has ever had the power to stop her. Only a god has enough power to kill her."

"Too bad we killed Glory." Dawn shrugged. It was almost as if the news of The Witch being indestructible wasn't a big deal.

"Dawn, this isn't the time for jokes."

* * *

Anya paced back and forth in the airport lobby. She looked around at all the people with signs; maybe she should have made one. She began shifting back and forth on each foot. She was beyond impatient at this point; especially after running into Xander earlier that day. Then she saw what she was waiting for.

"Giles! Giles! Over here!" Anya jumped up and down waving her hands. It seemed like appropriate thing to do since she didn't have a sign.

"Anya I can see you." Giles said softly he reached her.

"Well then what took you so long? I'm older than you and I walk much faster. Aren't watchers supposed to be like fit or something?" Anya and Giles began walking towards the exit.

"Well for one, you're immortal I'm not. I actually age as time goes on. Second I ache from the long flight." Anya just rolled her eyes.

"Well come on we have to get to the hospital. Dawn's leg less, not in a chopped off kind of way, they just no longer exist." Giles looked at Anya in shock. They had told him things were bad, and they needed his help, but they didn't elaborate.

"Bloody hell."


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Okie doke, so here is chapter 8. It's shorter than the last few, but It just came to a natural end. I don't want to rush the story, so this chapter is mostly filler.  
I love any reviews, the good the bad and the ugly!**

"Bloody hell!" Giles walked around the bed several times staring at the empty place where Dawn's legs should be.

"Yeah it's pretty bad." Willow finally looked up from the book she had been reading.

"How did this happen?" Giles asked as he pulled off his glasses and began cleaning them.

"We're not a hundred percent sure. From what I can tell from my research were dealing with a very old very powerful witch. The first witch actually." Willow's face kind of fell at the mention of the ancient being. The thought of fighting something so hold was terrifying.

"I've heard of her." Giles finally stopped pacing and sat down in a chair in the corner.

"What? I've been digging around trying to find something and you know who it is!" Willow closed the book with frustration.

"I thought it was just a myth. When I was in training to be a watcher, the council would tell us stories about. I thought it was just a scare tactic, apparently not." Giles crossed his legs and began to think back about the stories he had been told.

"Off with her head. Or burn her at the stake. That's generally what you do to witches, right?" Anya finally piped up. Everyone around just gave her a disapproving look.

"Party poopers." Anya slumped down into her chair.

"Damn B, calm it down. You know I'm all for pounding on some demon bums, but this is overkill." Faith pushed the demon to the ground so Buffy would stop hitting him.

"When did you become the saint?" Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, she looked very self-righteous.

"I ain't no saint, but I'm not exactly Sybil anymore either." Faith grabbed the demon before it started to run. She took her focus off of Buffy and focused on the demon.

"Tell me everything you know." Faith punched the demon in the face.

"I… I don't know anything I swear." The demon pleaded.

"You might want to tell her, she's a killer. She has a habit of stabbing things." Buffy just sat back and watched as Faith punched the demon again.

"Really B? Last time I check you stabbed me, resulting in me being in Wonderland for about six months." Faith threw the demon and he scurried to his feet and ran off.

"Great the demon got away. You should pay more attention." Buffy started walking away from where they had been standing.

"If you have something to say…" Faith began but was interrupted by Buffy.

"I just did." Buffy continued walking. Faith had to run to catch up with her.

"What the hell is your problem?" Faith grabbed Buffy's arm and turned her so they were face to face, "I get that Dawn is in the hospital, but you are one nerve from being a psycho. This isn't like you, I'm the crazy slayer." Buffy's phone began ringing interrupting Faith.

"Hello?" Buffy answered as she put the phone to her ear, "Yea we'll be right there."

"They found out whose behind all this, we have to go to the hospital."

"Ok so I have heard of her. Is it a crime? Geez you people are so judgy." Anya crossed her arms and slumped in her chair.

"You knew who she was and you just let us sit here and go in the wrong direction." Willow was now standing walking closer to Anya.

"Did you ever think that maybe I wanted you all to die? Does anyone seem to remember, I'm a vengeance demon. It's my job to make sure people like you get dead." Anya stood up face to face with Willow. They both just glared at each other.

"Girls, this bickering isn't helping anyone. We need to work together if we're going to stop her." Giles called out from the corner. Anya and Willow both rolled their eyes and headed back to their respective seats.

"Anya, tell us what you know, please."

"Ok fine. About seven hundred years ago I ran into this old hag. She was a witch, which was obvious. She claimed she was THE witch. Yadda yadda the end." Anya sat silent as everyone stared at her.

"That's it? You are no help at all." Willow spat as she grabbed a book and began thumbing through it.

"Oh yea because you going all evil and trying to kill everyone is a huge help."

"Enough!" Giles screamed as he stood up. Anya and Willow both became very small in their seats. Just as the argument ended Buffy and Faith walked through the door.

"Oh thank god!" Dawn cried, "I thought I was going to have to chop off a leg if you all didn't shut up." Buffy looked to Dawn with a confused expression.

"You had to be there." Dawn mumbled and started messing with the sheets on the bed. Buffy walked over to Giles and gave him a hug.

"I'm glad you're here." She whispered into his chest and she hugged him tightly. "So didn't anybody find anything?"

"Glinda over there found something, but it doesn't really do us any good." Anya crossed her arms over her chest; she really didn't want to be involved in all this.

"What did you find?" Buffy looked to Willow with hope in her eyes. She hoped that whatever Willow found out would help them get Dawn's legs back.

"It's not much, but we know now who we are up against." Willow began telling Buffy everything she had found. Which wasn't much, but it was a start. Buffy's eyes grew wide in shock when she found out who they were up against.

"The first witch?" Buffy repeated the words to herself, as if it would make the news easier to process.

"Peachy," Faith said sarcastically, "Now let's all hop on our brooms and beat the bitches ass."

"It's not going to be that easy Faith." Giles argued from the corner.

"Ok come on, she's old and decrepit. One good punch and we'll send the Wicked Witch back to Oz."

"Must you make a joke out of everything?" Giles spat angrily at the rouge Slayer.

"Calm down Jeeves. A good punch line makes the world go round, and relieves some tension." Faith rolled her eyes at Giles's outburst.

"Ok, let's just stop arguing and work on the task at hand. All of this fighting will get us nowhere." Willow took books and handed them out to everyone to begin reading.

"Um guys, I think we have a real problem here." Dawn cried over top of all the talking.

"What's wrong Dawnie?" Buffy moved closer to Dawn to see what the problem was. Dawn lifted her left hand up for everyone to see that it was half gone.

"I don't think I will be very handy right now." Dawn joked.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I know I've been so horrible about updating this story. I hope people are still even reading this. I will try to keep up with the updating. This is just the beginning with tons more to come. **

"Enough of this! The Slayers are too distracted by the Key to see anything coming. Now is the prime time to attack."

"Are you questioning my plans child?" The Witch spat towards the woman standing in front of her. The woman flinched at The Witch's outburst.

"No… not at all. It's just that…"

"Just what? Spit it out." The Witch taunted the woman who was clearly afraid of her.

"Nothing." The woman lowered her head in failure. She knew The Witch wouldn't care about anything she had to say.

"And you call yourself a child of The Craft. Out of my sight child." The Witch turned around so she wouldn't have to see the face of failure. After a few moments to think she made her way towards her Grimoire. She began thumbing through the pages until she reached what she was looking for.

"I think this will get the job done."

"So what exactly are we looking for? Wolf's butt or something?" Faith asked as she dug through a pile of herbs on the floor of what used to be the Magic Box.

"Wolfsbane and god did prison make you stupid?" Anya asked from behind the broken counter.

"No being stupid made me stupid, and dropping out of high school. I'm pretty sure the big house didn't help with any of that though." Faith continued digging through the pile even though she had no idea what wolfsbane looked like.

"Found it, and oh my god is this a sick joke I could've had a hard attack." Anya placed an old stuffed bunny onto the counter. Faith just looked at her with a confused look.

"You need some serious help. So what will this spell do? I'm not really a witchy know how." Faith leaned up against a shelf that then collapsed behind her.

"Damn this place is as fragile as B." Anya just stared blankly at Faith not understanding what she meant but that statement. She very often didn't understand what people were saying with their constant random pop culture references and what not.

"Well this spell will hopefully let us know if there is a way to kill the old bat. If it doesn't work, we're all going to die." Anya shrugged carelessly at the last part of her own sentence. She had been alive for 1120 years she wasn't really scared of dying anymore.

"That's just exciting." Faith continued digging, mostly ignoring what Anya had to say.

"I feel that my leg is itching. How is that possible, I don't have a leg, let alone a hand to scratch it." Dawn look at the nubs on both of her arms. It was weird that she didn't have hands, yet she still felt like she did.

"Really Dawn, we are trying to work here. Can we keep the jokes to a minimum?" Buffy looked back to the book she had been staring at. She wasn't finding any information, but at the same time she hadn't made it past the first paragraph.

"Sorry I'm just trying to lighten the mood. I'm a little freaked out right now; I'm missing half of my body. I don't really want to cry, I cry too much." Dawn's face formed a frown as she began thinking about the problems of the now.

"Dawnie we are trying our best to figure all of this out. Unfortunately there really isn't much about her, it seems like she predates any written language." Willow closed the History of Witches book she had been reading, but found nothing.

"Does it seem a little dark to be nine in the morning?" Buffy looked out the window trying to see if a storm was about to come. Willow and Giles both got up from their chairs and moved towards the window. Giles pushed back the curtain in the room and stared up at the sky.

The sun slowly began to turn black. It was almost like someone was taking a paint brush and painting black over top of it. They all looked to each other contemplating what this could mean.

"Permanent night, this could definitely be a problem." Dawn sighed.

"Is it just me or did it get really dark all of a sudden?" Faith asked as she began moving towards the door.

"Slayers, you're just so stupid? It's nine o'clock in the morning, which means sunlight!" Anya screamed from underneath what used to be the balcony. She walked out and stared towards the window.

"Oh." Anya muttered and began walking behind Faith towards the door. As they exited they noticed the blacked out sun in the sky followed by several screams.

"This is about to get ugly." Faith pulled a stake from her jacket pocket and began running down the street.

"Of course let's just run to the fight. Why are good guys so good?" Anya asked herself as she slowly began walking down the street. As she rounded the corner by the coffee shop she saw Faith stake a vamp twist of her heel and stake another one; both turning to dust instantly.

"Are you going to just stand there or are you going to help?" Faith screamed as she got tackled by a third vamp she didn't see before.

"Hello demon, why would I help you?" Anya asked just before she got knocked over by a crowd of people running by.

"Stay here and watch Dawn. I have to get out there and help or people are going to start dying." Buffy said as she grabbed her jacket off the chair.

"That's probably what's she's trying to do, distract you from the real problem at hand. It could be a trap Buffy." Giles cautioned his slayer.

"I can't just let them die Giles, I have to go." Buffy spun on her heel and ran out of the room.

"Go, help Buffy. I can watch Dawn." Willow said as she picked a witch craft book off the chair.

"Be careful, and remember you are in complete control of the magicks." Giles smiled at Willow and then left the room.

"I thought they would never leave. Geez you people are too good for your own good." Willow spun around to see who was in the room. She froze when she saw who was standing in front of her.

"Amy, what are you doing?"


End file.
